In Bunia, eastern Congo, grief has pierced the walls of a church-run orphanage where two babies have died from Ebola, exposing the devastating vulnerability of children in the outbreak’s path.
Baby Buswaza, who had just lost her mother, was carried into the orphanage in late May. Within days, she developed a fever and passed away — later confirmed as Ebola.
Her short life, less than two weeks, ended in a sealed child-sized body bag, a stark reminder of how merciless the virus can be.
Soon after, six other infants were suspected of infection. Five were cleared and joyfully returned to the arms of nuns in protective suits.
But one, a triplet girl nicknamed “Cherie,” meaning “darling,” succumbed on Wednesday. “The child has left us,” said Dr Freddy Kibwana, head of the Evangelical Medical Centre.
For the sisters, the losses are crushing. “We are nuns, but we are also humans, and it has been very emotional,” one whispered, fearful of stigma.
Three carers, including a nun, have also tested positive, and the orphanage now receives daily visits from health teams.
Children account for nearly a fifth of confirmed Ebola cases in this outbreak, UNICEF warns, and in a region scarred by conflict and hunger, their survival is even more precarious.
Malnutrition rates among under-fives in Ituri province exceed 50%, leaving immune systems too weak to fight back. “In this fragile context, children could deteriorate more quickly if they become infected,” said UNICEF’s Douglas Noble.
The orphanage, founded decades ago by Belgian sisters, is now a frontline of both faith and fear. It shelters survivors of war, yet Ebola has breached its sanctuary.
Aid groups like Save the Children stress that this is “the only refuge for these children” — a refuge now shadowed by loss.
Buswaza and Cherie’s deaths are not just statistics in an epidemic that has killed over 115 people.
They are stories of tiny lives cut short, of caregivers praying over cribs, and of a community fighting to protect its most fragile souls against a relentless disease.
